Amid the ongoing hostility between Israel and Palestinian militants, the head of the Christian Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis has made for an end to the attacks while warning that terrorism and war do not lead to a solution.
The Pope made the call while speaking on Sunday at St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican,. He specifically called for a cessation of attacks in Israel.
He urged everyone to pray for peace in Israel and Palestine and declared that every war is a defeat.
He avoided specifically referencing the Gaza Strip or the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas, which on Saturday launched a large surprise attack.
‘I follow with apprehension and pain what is happening in Israel. I express my solidarity with the families of the victims,’ he told crowds after his traditional Angelus prayer.
‘I pray for all those who are living through hours of terror and anguish. May the attacks and the weapons cease, I beg you.
;Terrorism and war do not lead to a solution, but only to the death and suffering of many innocent people,’ he said.
Meanwhile, the death toll from the conflict has exceeded 1,000 with over 600 Israelis and 413 Palestinians killed.
Africa Today News, New York had earlier reported that the clashes broke out after Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday with a barrage of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip, killing 22 people.
Consequently, Israel retaliated as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed, saying: “Our enemy will pay a price the type of which it has never known. We are in a war and we will win it.”
Israeli government said yesterday that more than 600 Israelis have been killed and 100 kidnapped with
2,000 injured in attacks from Gaza since Saturday.
Also, Palestinian officials said the retaliatory Israeli air strikes have killed at least 413 people in the Gaza Strip, with 2,300 wounded.
The United States (US) Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, had said the country’s received reports that several Americans have died in Israel and that officials were trying to verify those reports.
Blinken has been speaking to CNN about the major attack on Israel by Palestinian militants.
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He said the US is “likely” to give details on new military assistance for Israel later today, he says. “Our first focus is to make sure Israel has what it needs.
According to reports, the US has announced more support for Israel by sending munitions and boosting forces in the region, while British PM Rishi Sunak says the UK is one of Israel’s “strongest allies.”
The wave of attacks launched by the Hamas militant group on Saturday morning was the biggest escalation in decades between the two sides.
This is just as the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday spoke with the leader of Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad (PIJ) after the latest developments, state media in Iran reports.
“Raisi discussed the developments in Palestine in separate phone calls with Ziyad al-Nakhalah, secretary general of the Islamic Jihad Movement, and Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the (Hamas) political bureau,” state news agency IRNA reported, without giving further details.
Iran had hailed the Palestinian attack and called it a “proud operation” and a “great victory”.